The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is eyeing to advance digital cooperation with Belgium, particularly on cybersecurity, digital ID and satellites.
In a statement, DICT said Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo, undersecretary for public affairs and foreign relations, met with Michel Parys, ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to the Philippines, to discuss areas for digital cooperation.
“We want to learn from digitally-advanced nations in terms of building and improving digital infrastructure, improving the public’s access to and the government’s delivery of public services through digitalization, and strengthening measures against cyber threats,” Lamentillo said.
Belgium has an eID, an electronic proof of identity that citizens can use for electronic transactions, such as signing electronic documents and securely logging in to online public services.
One of the priorities of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is to fast-track the issuance of national IDs to make transactions with different government agencies seamless and more efficient.
Lamentillo said under Secretary Ivan John Uy’s leadership, the DICT is also exploring partnerships with other nations to help pursue the Marcos administration’s “Build Better More” thrust, which aims to bridge the digital divide and improve the provision of public services through e-governance.
The Philippines and China signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance cooperation and exchange in the digital and ICT sectors during Marcos’ state visit to the People’s Republic of China last week.
The MOU, which was among 14 bilateral agreements inked during the President’s state visit, was signed by Uy and by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Minister Jin Zhuanglong for China.
“The signing of this memorandum of understanding between DICT and China’s MIIT is foremost an affirmation of our respective nation’s desire to continue to deepen our existing bilateral relations and to promote useful exchanges in the areas of digital and ICT cooperation,” said Uy.
“This will strengthen digital cooperation between our countries, such as in emerging technologies, telecommunication, digital governance, and radio spectrum management, among others,” he added.
The MOU covers the exchange of knowledge, technical expertise and best practices in emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, fifth generation technology (5G), cloud computing, Internet of Things, industrial internet, big data, analytics and robotics.
It also covers enhanced support to the pragmatic cooperation between Philippine and Chinese enterprises in the telecoms industry; and exchange of best practices about 6G vision requirements and 5G use cases, as well as 5G and 6G technology innovation, 6G system concepts and architecture.
In e-governance, the two nations agree to exchange knowledge and share best practices in digital government strategy, digital government services and digital identity. They will also exchange best practices about data center design standards, and explore a potential partnership to establish data center projects in accordance with international standards for facility design, operations, and data privacy and security.
